Get a baseline before anyone orders one.

Yes. An axial skeleton DEXA measures the bone mineral density of your lower spine (the lumbar vertebrae) and your hips — exactly the scan we do. Your results come back with a T-score and a Z-score for each site — the numbers your doctor uses to check for osteopenia and osteoporosis.

Orders word it several ways, and they all mean this scan: axial skeleton DEXA, central DXA, DXA of the hip and spine, bone density scan, or procedure code 77080. Book either option below. You don’t need to bring the order, but bring a copy if you have one so we can see which sites your doctor asked for.

No. You book directly with us — no referral, no prescription, no insurance pre-approval. If your doctor has asked you to get a bone density scan, you can book here and bring them the report.

Booking is online only — use either Book button on this page and it takes about a minute. Call or text 864-990-4425 if you’re not sure which option to choose, if you’re running late, or if the booking page gives you trouble, and we’ll point you in the right direction.

No. The bone densitometrist who runs your scan can’t interpret it, and with the printout-only option no radiologist or physician reviews the report — you take it to your own doctor to evaluate. If you’d rather have a physician read the scan, send you a written report and go over it with you, book the Scan + MD Review ($349) instead.

Both a T-score and a Z-score for each site scanned — the lumbar spine and both hips — plus the bone mineral density measurement behind them and an image of each region. The T-score compares you with a healthy young adult and is the number physicians use to diagnose osteopenia and osteoporosis; the Z-score compares you with people your own age and sex. Interpreting it, and deciding what to do about it, is a physician's role — your own doctor with the printout, or Dr. Zalzala with the MD Review.

Insurance typically doesn’t cover a bone density scan until 65 for women and 70 for men — which is why most people never get one until then. We think that’s late. Bone loss starts years earlier, often around perimenopause, and the first sign of osteoporosis is usually the fracture. A baseline in your 40s or 50s tells you where you’re starting from while there’s still time to do something about it — and for some people even that is late. We see low bone density in female endurance athletes in their late 20s, where years of hard training, low body weight and under-fueling have quietly cost them bone.

You have more reason to come in early if you’re petite or small-framed, a runner or endurance athlete with a history of stress fractures, have a family history of osteoporosis or hip fracture, have broken a bone from a minor fall, went through early menopause, take steroids or thyroid medication, or have ever had an eating disorder. No referral is needed, and you don’t have to wait for a doctor’s order. Whether and when is still your doctor’s call — we do the scan and give you the numbers.

Bone density scans are available from age 16 (a parent or guardian must be present for anyone under 18). Anyone under 20 gets a Z-score, compared with people their own age, rather than a T-score — that’s the clinical standard, not a limitation of the scan. More on that here.

Same machine, different scan — and the difference matters if a doctor is involved. The DEXA Body Scan looks at your whole body and reports fat, muscle and a whole-body bone figure; the app labels it “Bone Mass” and notes that the whole-body T-score and Z-score are for context only, not diagnosis. A doctor’s office will not accept it in place of a bone density test.

The Bone Density Scan is a targeted, higher-resolution axial skeleton scan of the lower spine and hips that produces the site-specific T-scores and Z-scores physicians use to diagnose osteopenia and osteoporosis. That is the report to bring to your appointment. If you want both, add the Body Scan for $99 when you book either bone density option.

It's the DexaStrong program, and it has two parts. First, Dr. Zalzala, a board-certified family medicine physician, reads your scan and writes a full bone densitometry report — a summary of findings, T- and Z-scores for your lumbar spine and both hips with his interpretation of each, and a plain-English guide to reading the numbers — emailed to you within 5–7 days. Then you meet him in a live virtual consult to go over it and talk through next steps. We schedule the consult while you're here for your scan, about two weeks out, so you've had time with the report before you talk. It's provided in partnership with DexaFit Greenville, and the $349 covers the scan, the report and the consult.

DEXA uses a very low dose. A hip-and-spine scan is less radiation than a cross-country flight from New York to Los Angeles — about the same as a day of ordinary background radiation. You stay in your own clothes — no gown — and we only ask that there’s no metal in the scan area. See how to prepare for the full list. Let us know if there’s any chance you’re pregnant; we can’t scan you if there is.

HSA and FSA cards are accepted at booking. We don't bill insurance — which is how we keep the price well below most hospital and imaging-center rates. You pay us directly, and we'll give you an itemized receipt if you want to submit it yourself; whether your plan reimburses is up to your insurer.

Printout only: you leave with the printed report in hand. MD Review: Dr. Zalzala's full written report is emailed to you within 5–7 days, and you go over it with him in your live virtual consult about two weeks after the scan. If you add the DEXA Body Scan, those results are reviewed with you on screen and sent to your email and the DexaFit app.